The Fairy Chronicles

MARIGOLD AND THE FEATHER OF HOPE, THE JOURNEY BEGINS (Fairy Chronicles)
by J.H. Sweet
May 2007
Review copy compliments of the publisher

In the first book of the Fairy Chronicles, Beth’s dreaded visit to Aunt Evelyn’s takes a turn for the better when Beth learns she is a fairy. Marigold Fairy, to be exact.

The minute we got news of this book, I knew which of my fifth graders would be the first reader. I’ve seen her with other fairy books, and she took a spell book out to recess for weeks on end last fall. All of the characters in her writing have magical mystical powers and they go on epic quests.

Little did I know just how into fairies she is. She has read all of the Disney Fairies books, and owns several. She can recite the names, talents and adventures of all the Disney fairies. So it’s an understatement to say that she brought some background knowledge to her reading!

She was practically giddy with excitement when I showed her the book and asked her to read it in one night, if possible. (She managed in two.) She found one way that the Fairy Chronicles fairies differ from the Disney fairies: the fairies in the Fairy Chronicles are humans who can change back and forth from their fairy selves, while the Disney fairies are static fairies. Some of the fairies in both series have similar talents. There are Fairy Circles in both books, and the Fairy Chronicles has a handy fairy profile page which I missed, but she accessed several times when talking about the book to get the details right. She made a connection to GOSSAMER by Lois Lowry, and she was surprised and pleased to find the Tooth Fairy in the Fairy Chronicles.

Both of us were delighted by the Fairy Handbooks that automatically adjust the explanations and instructions so they are just right for that particular fairy and that particular age. (Magically leveled books! Hmm….) A Fairy starts with the First Fairy Handbook, moves to the Fortunate Fairy Handbook (for Fairies who are 10-12 years old and accident-prone), then the Formidable Fairy Handbook, and last of all, the Final Fairy Hand book.

What pleased my student most, however, was when I told her that she could read book two before me, and she could read it at whatever pace she chose, since she had read the first one so quickly to be able to give me her feedback!

Franki and her students loved it. She has lots of fairy readers in her class and they have a whole system of who gets the books next. Her students thought the illustrations were a bit like Spiderwick’s but in color. For Franki, it was like Bewitched—there could be a magical person living by her or...she could be a fairy and didn’t know it yet.

Fifth Graders Love Clementine

I knew if I didn't read Clementine and The Talented Clementine (by Sara Pennypacker) to my fifth graders, both books would be completely off their radar. A middle-schooler reading a thin, illustrated book about a third grader and a fourth grader? I don't think so.

But an end-of-year fifth grader listening to these stories? "Don't stop now!"

Clementine has become the 26th member of our class. We say, "Okay, fine," and we all know it's Clementine talking. Everyone is always paying careful attention in my classroom...but not always to the lesson, and that's all right, thanks to Clementine. Choosing what to do or what to pick? Not anymore. Now we honor all our options by not choosing (N-O-T not choosing) the ones we don't want. Laxative, Fluoride, Moisturizer, and Mascara will live forever in our memories as exquisite cat names. Things that amaze us will be "astoundishing." And we will work to be more empathetic.

Poetry Friday -- A Meditation on Creativity

Ars Poetica
By X.J. Kennedy

The goose that laid the golden egg
Died looking up its crotch
To find out how its sphincter worked.
(punchline here; rhymes with crotch).

Pay Dirt!

Do you know about Daedalus Books? They are "the online discount book and music store selling thousands of quality bargain books and overstock CDs for the independent reader and listener."

Books, CDs and DVDs at up to 90% off! Gotta love that.

I don't hit pay dirt with every catalog, but the Spring Children's Catalog had all of these:

Two by Carolyn Marsden, $2.98 and $3.98
THE GOLD THREADED DRESS
SILK UMBRELLAS




Three by Lucy Cousins (future baby shower presents) for $2.49-$3.98

I didn't know there was a companion for MY LITTLE SISTER ATE ONE HARE! Very fun! MY LITTLE SISTER HUGGED AN APE $3.98



LITTLE RUTH REDDINGFORD by Hank Wesselman looks like a fun twist on Little Red Riding Hood. A must for my collection! $4.98



SONG OF THE WATER BOATMAN by Joyce Sidman $10.95. Okay, fine, not such a great price, but might as well since I found so many others...





I've wanted this book since the first time I saw it! A BOOK ABOUT DESIGN: COMPLICATED DOESN'T MAKE IT GOOD by Mark Gonyea $4.98



There are also three from the Smithsonian Odyssey Series that look good ($3.98 each): A GOLDEN AGE: The Golden Age of Radio; THE LAST RAIL: The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad; THAR SHE BLOWS! Whaling in the 1860s. And for $3.98, why not check out THE ESSENTIAL ATLAS OF TECHNOLOGY from 2002. The information on basic technology (wheels and pulleys and the like) shouldn't be outdated.

This is why my classroom is positively overflowing with books!

Kid Quips

It's been awhile since I had a really good one to share. Today's was a doozie.

At the end of the day, Boy A was by the door tying his new sneaks. Real hot, fast looking shoes. I told him they looked like they ought to have wings on the heels, like that Greek god. "You know who I'm talking about, don't you?" I asked.

"The Red Bull guy?" he replied.

Groan. The curse of popular culture.

So I had to go over to my mythology shelf and check. On the way, I asked Boy B, who was likely to know the answer so I wouldn't have to look. "Is it Hermes with the wings on his shoes?" I asked.

"No, Herpes, isn't it?"

"Uh, no. For sure not Herpes. That's a disease."

2 New Books for Young Readers

I picked up two new picture books that would be great for primary kids. I thought ORANGE, PEAR, APPLE, BEAR by Emily Gravett was adorable. The whole story is told with the four words in the title. The illustrations are adorable and it is amazing how the author wrote the book with only four words. I actually bought it thinking it would be fun to share with older kids. I thought with all of our talk about visual literacy--with Hugo Cabret and other graphic novels, we have been talking about how readers get information from illustrations and graphics. I also thought it would be interesting to talk to them about how the author wrote a book with 4 words.



The other one that I bought has been reviewed on several blogs already. I finally found a copy of I'M THE BIGGEST THING IN THE OCEAN by Kevin Sherry. It is a VERY fun book! The colors are great. The story is fun. And the book is just oversized enough to work. It is one of those great books that should be in every K-1 classroom because it is one that new readers can read on their own once they've heard it read aloud. As you know, I am a huge advocate of new readers reading real books rather than ONLY leveled texts so books like this one are great for these classroom libraries.

Fabulous Fiesta of Children's Literature!

Head on over to Chicken Spaghetti for the 14th Carnival of Children's Literature! The setting is Texas and the Carnival is (appropriately) larger than life!

DOGS AND CATS by Steve Jenkins

Steve Jenkins, author of ACTUAL SIZE has this great new book out called DOGS AND CATS. This is a fun book for many reasons. First of all, it has two covers. One side is the cover for the side about dogs. Flip it over and you have the cover to the information about cats. Each page is PACKED with information about dogs and cats. So much is covered in this book. And the illustrations are amazing. Labels are used to show different things and the illustrations are so realistic. I can already think of a few kids who will grab this one for reading time this week. A great addition to my nonfiction library--one that I know lots of kids will love.

Lloyd Alexander, 1924-2007

Another of the giants is gone.

This summer I will re-read the Prydain Chronicles. TARAN WANDERER was the right book at the right time almost every time I read it through late adolescence and early adulthood. I wonder what it will say to me now.

TIME CAT will continue to take my students to nine times in history.

Thank you, Mr. Alexander.

Read Roger
HornBook Virtual History
HornBook obituary and links
Lois Lowry remembers
NPR Remembrance, with comments from Jon Scieszka

WARRIORS: THE LOST WARRIOR

Her love affair with the WARRIORS series began when she was in 4th or 5th grade. Upon her recommendation, I read one of them back then. (It's pretty powerful when the teacher reads the student's recommendation, rather than vice versa.) I brought her ARCs from NCTE. (Getting the next book in a favorite series before it's out in the bookstore? Priceless.)

She's in 7th grade now, but when TokyoPop sent the uncorrected proof of the new graphic novel parallel series, I knew she was the expert I would need to call on for an opinion.

Her life had been taken over by the middle school theater production when I dropped the book off at her house, but we had a good chat about it when she brought me my Girl Scout Cookies.

The graphic novel is not exactly the same as the novels, she was quick to point out. "You wonder when Greystripe is coming back, and the graphic novel shows what happened to him. It also shows how he motivated to leave house cat life."

She sees the graphic novels as companion books to the regular series. They have a mixture of new story lines and they fill in between the parts of the series. And she is absolutely savvy to the marketing of the graphic novels, "They will lure in young readers and get them ready for the series."

Nevertheless, she plans to own all of the graphic novels, because they will "complete my collection...my library."

She recommends the Warrior Cats website and writes: "The field guide comes out May 29. I have the new book and after today and a little of yesterday reading I am on page 167. It is so good. Also Graystripe the lost warrior (cough title of cough manga cough book cough cough cough) comes back with Millie (cough another cough cat from cough manga). There is already another book coming after this called Dark River. Now I can't wait until September because an extra book called Firestars Quest comes out. I love when you get the unedited versions when I can read them. I wish I could meet Erin Hunter it would be so cool.




According to her book this is how the books go in order:

Warriors

Into the Wild
Fire and Ice
Forest of Secrets
Rising Storm
A Dangerous Path
The Darkest Hour

Warriors: The New Prophecy

Midnight
Moonrise
Dawn
Starlight
Twilight
Sunset

Warriors: Manga

The Lost Warrior

Warriors: The Power of Three

The Sight
Dark River- not out in stores yet

Warriors: Extra

Field Guide: Secrets of the Clans